Cameron paid the man and escorted him to the door, along with the two security guards who came with him.
He turned to everyone waiting in the living room. Only one thing left to do. Beg them to tell him where Marti is.
“Listen you guys, I know I’ve been a complete jackass. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you all sooner, and I’m even more sorry I hurt Marti and made Emma miserable. I hope you’ll all forgive me.”
Sam wanted to prolong the agony for Cameron a little longer. “We thought we’d take all the kids to the zoo today. It’s beautiful out and Emma said she’d like to go.”
“I like the zoo. They have monkeys.” She and Jenna’s twins sat on the floor at Jack’s feet.
“Do you want to join us, Cameron?” Jenna smiled and looked mischievous.
Jack wanted in on things himself. “How about we take Emma? She can stay the night with us and we’ll bring her back in the morning.”
Everyone got up to leave. Elizabeth carried Emma’s overnight bag.
“You look tired, Cameron. You should go upstairs and get some rest. A nice nap will do you good.”
“Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to tell me where she is?”
“Elizabeth already told you what you should do. I think you should take her advice.” Sam grabbed Cameron in a huge bear hug and slapped him on the back. He picked up his sleeping daughter in her car seat and headed out the door.
“Me too.” Jack gave Cameron another bear hug, slapped him on the back, and left with his twin sons holding his hands.
Jenna kissed him on the cheek and Emma hugged him tight and kissed him goodbye.
Elizabeth was the last to leave and before she walked out the door she kissed his cheek and said, “Make things right, Cameron. She’s been through enough. She loves you enough to forgive you and make it easy on you. She’s upstairs waiting for you. Jack carried her up while you were in with Shelly. We all love you and we’ll see you tomorrow when we bring Emma home.”
“Don’t make it early. I plan on sleeping in,” he said and ran up the stairs two at a time before the front door closed behind Elizabeth.
Chapter Forty-Nine
* * *
CAMERON STOPPED IN the double doorway and stared at the beautiful woman asleep on his bed. Wearing a white sundress, she looked like an angel sleeping on the blue and white bed cover. On her side, her dark hair spread back from her face and over the pillow. The outline of the brace on her knee keeping it straight showed through her dress. Her arm lay across her belly, strapped into the brace around her waist keeping her shoulder in place. He walked to the side of the bed at her back and saw the bruises on her shoulder the dress didn’t cover. He hung his head, eyes on the floor, mind locked on the past, wondering how he could be such a fool.
Sensing his presence, she tried to turn to him, but whimpered in her sleep when she hit her bruised shoulder on the bed. She turned her back again and made a sound of displeasure. He stepped around the bed and sat beside her. They’d both been through too many sleepless nights over the last week. Pale skin, dark circles beneath her eyes, she needed her rest, but he needed to talk to her and make things right. This mess had gone on far too long. His fault completely. His to make right.
He traced his finger along the curve of her cheek and over her ear, tucking her hair back from her beautiful face. With a soft touch, he swept his fingertips along her hurt shoulder and down her arm. He rested his palm on her hip and squeezed gently.
He’d missed her. Everything inside him ached to hold her and kiss her and promise her . . . everything and anything.
First he owed her an apology. Then he’d beg, because no matter what, he wasn’t letting her leave this bed without agreeing to put him out of his misery and marry him.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open and stared up at him. He looked down into her soft green eyes, far too serious and weary for his liking.
“Did you get that woman out of my house?”
“Yes, sweetheart. I did. I’m so sorry for everything that’s happened over the last two months.”
“You should be.”
“I am. God, Marti, I’m so damn sorry.” He squeezed her hip and made her gasp. “You’re in pain. Do you need something? How can I help you?”
“Stop. I’m fine. My back goes into spasm. The muscles are sore. The doctor said it’ll get better.”
“What about the baby?” He moved his hand down to her belly and covered his child.
She placed her hand over his. “Our baby is just fine. There’s no more spotting.”
“You were bleeding,” he said, frightened. She’d been through so much without him. He kissed her forehead. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry I didn’t come to you in the hospital and take care of you. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when you were on the stairs. I’m sorry for everything. I’m so damn sorry.”
“I don’t want to do this.”
The finality in her voice and blank face scared him even more.
Please God, don’t let her want to leave me. I can’t bear to lose her now and live without her.
“Do you love me?” Her soft voice sounded unusually shy.
Marti didn’t like the scared and worried look on his face. She didn’t want to listen to him tell her he was sorry. She knew he was. Most of what happened was because of his guilt over Caroline’s death and his need to be a good father. Who could blame him for that? She had a lot more compassion for him because she knew what it was like to wish for a mother and father. He wanted the best for his baby. Knowing that, she forgave the rest. She loved him and wanted him and was ready to move on to being happy with him.
“I love you so much. More than anything. I want to spend my life with you and raise Emma and our baby and as many more babies as you’ll give me,” he said. “I want to wake up with you every morning and have your face be the last thing I see at night. I want to learn everything about you. I’m pretty sure it’s going to take the rest of our lives, because you’re an amazing woman, and every day I learn something new about you. I want to marry you and have you adopt Emma as your own. I want her to have the mother she’s always wanted. And that’s you, Marti.” He slipped off the bed and knelt on one knee beside her. “Martina Fairchild, please marry me, because I can’t live without you.” He slid the rings onto her finger and kissed them in place. “Please say yes.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and her gaze locked on the three rings.
“Emma helped me pick them out. I knew they were perfect when she said they looked like rain in the moonlight.”
“They’re beautiful.” She laid her hand on his chest and admired the diamonds twinkling on her finger.
“I’ll never forget making love to you in the rain. I saw the painting and it was like a punch in the gut seeing the lonely bench in the moonlight with the rain pouring down. I don’t want you to remember it that way. Somehow, some way, I will make everything up to you, sweetheart. I want to make a thousand happy memories with you.”
“That’s all I ever wanted. You’re all I ever wanted. You and Emma and our baby.”
“You have to believe me. After everything that’s happened, you have to know I always wanted you. I didn’t want to turn my back on you, but I wanted to give my children what I never had, a whole family. I thought I owed them that after what happened to Caroline.
“You are the most amazing mother to Emma. I would have been the same kind of father to the baby. I can’t tell you how relieved I am we’ll never have to deal with Shelly again. I have the proof. I’ll show you she isn’t pregnant.”
“I don’t need the proof.”
“No, you already knew she lied about the pregnancy.”
“I don’t need the proof because I trust you.”
“And I didn’t trust you,” he said and lay his forehead to hers.
“I don’t believe that.” She brushed her lips to his in a soft sweet sweep of her mouth over his. “I think you wanted to do the right th
ing, and you got caught up in trying to be there for the baby and trying to hold onto me too. You thought you couldn’t have both, so like a good father you chose the baby. I understand. That’s why I came back today. I could have sailed away with our baby and let go of an amazing dream to punish you for everything that’s happened. I’d rather have the dream. I’d rather have you and a life with Emma and our baby.”
“I’ll give you the world if you say you’ll marry me.”
“You already know I’ll marry you. But if you need to hear me say the words. Yes, I’ll marry you. Anywhere. Anytime. I already have the world.”
“Your ship.” He looked up at the amazing painting of Marti standing on the bow of her ship looking up at the moon and stars he’d hung above the fireplace last night. From the bed, he’d stared at the painting all night wishing for her.
“No. You.”
Wish granted. He smiled, happier than he’d ever felt in his life. Everything was going to be all right now. Actually, it was perfect.
He kissed her gently and ran his hand over her face, mapping her beautiful features. Her green eyes watched him, and in those eyes, he saw the world, his world.
And don’t miss the previous two books in THE HUNTED series,
SAVED BY THE RANCHER
and
LUCKY LIKE US,
available from Avon Impulse!
About the Author
* * *
Jennifer Ryan writes romantic suspense and contemporary small-town romances featuring strong men and equally resilient women. Her stories are filled with love, friendship, and the happily-ever-after we all hope to find.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, three children, dog (Bella), and cat (Shadow). When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home and in how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
Please visit her website at www.jennifer-ryan.com for information about upcoming releases.
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Also by Jennifer Ryan
THE HUNTED SERIES
Saved by the Rancher
Lucky Like Us
Give in to your impulses . . .
Read on for a sneak peek at a brand-new
e-book original tale of romance from Avon Books.
Available now wherever e-books are sold.
ALL OR NOTHING
A TRUST NO ONE NOVEL
By Dixie Lee Brown
An Excerpt from
ALL OR NOTHING
A TRUST NO ONE NOVEL
by Dixie Lee Brown
Debut author Dixie Lee Brown launches her Trust No One series with this tale of a hunted woman and the one man who can save her life . . . if she’ll let him.
“Trust me. This is the safest way.”
Everything required trust with Joe. So, did she trust him? If she ever got back on the ground, she might be able to answer that question. Cara looked over the edge of the platform. There’s no way!
“Take your time. Go when you’re ready . . . unless you want me to give you a little push.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” She wrapped her arms around the pole.
“You really don’t trust me, do you?” He laughed.
“I was starting to, before you said the word ‘push.’ ”
“There’s hope then? If I choose my words more carefully?”
“Maybe . . . if I ever get down from here.”
“Let’s sit for a minute. Things will look different from that perspective.” He sat, dangling his long legs over the side. Cara positioned herself beside him, her hands nervously flexing on the rope that joined her to the zip line.
“Jumping doesn’t seem any more reasonable from here.” Too bad, since sitting close enough to rub shoulders with him made her nearly as uncomfortable as the stupid zip line.
“We’ll just hang out and talk for a while then. That okay?” He gripped the edge of the platform and leaned forward, turning to look at her.
“The last time we talked, it ended badly.”
“Now we know which subjects to stay away from.”
“Yeah, anything to do with either of our private lives.”
“I think it was your ex-husband and my desire to protect you from him that got us crossways with each other.”
Cara glanced sideways at him. He was looking at her. Their eyes met. The strangest emotions coursed through her. Somehow, it didn’t sound so bad when he said it like that. Who didn’t want a knight in shining armor? She was afraid for Joe, but he sounded so confident that he could protect her, and himself, she almost believed it. Recognizing the danger in that, she tore her eyes away from his.
“We’re making progress. You didn’t rip into me that time.” A grin came through in his voice.
“It doesn’t do any good to try talking sense into you.” She wanted to sound serious, but her heart was no longer in it. She forced her mind back to the task at hand, considering the likelihood that she’d ever be able to zip off this ledge. What was the worst that could happen? The cable could break, and she’d plummet thirty feet to the ground. End all of her problems. More likely, it would be a gradual descent, with the jump from the platform the only really exciting part. She could do this.
“We’ve got unfinished business, you know. We might as well take care of it while we’re sitting here.”
“What’s that?”
“I almost had you talked into dinner that night we met.”
“You weren’t even close.”
“I think you were as intrigued with the idea as I was.” He grinned. “I also think we stood a good chance of ending the evening with a kiss.”
“That’s a stretch. You’re making the same mistake you made that night. Going from confident to arrogant in about two seconds flat. There was no chance in hell you were going to get a kiss.” Cara smiled at his wounded look.
“Will my chances ever improve?” His eyes met hers again.
She’d forgotten what a good-looking guy he was. The same mesmerizing pull she’d experienced the night she met him overcame her better judgment now. For a moment she wondered what it would feel like, his lips on hers, his arms holding her close, while they lost themselves in each other.
Cara drew herself up short. Was she completely crazy? She was barely free from one dangerous man. Why would she get involved with another? There was an attraction between them she couldn’t deny, but nothing could ever come of it.
“Maybe.” The word slipped out, almost on its own.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from All or Nothing copyright © 2013 by Dixie Brown.
THE RIGHT BRIDE. Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Ryan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition MAY 2013 ISBN: 9780062271341
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062271358
JV 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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The Right Bride: Book Three: The Hunted Series Page 29
